PERSONALITIES
Hotel at Cannes; she was then staying at Grasse. Apparently
she was persuaded otherwise at the last moment, but she
wrote to ask me to pay her for the revolver which she had
purchased for the purpose. Subsequently she wrote a book
called The Man Who Never Understood, in which she abuses me
considerably. I was not the man in question, or the hero of
the book; he is reported to have been a young naval officer.
She sent me a copy and inside the cover, written in her own
hand, is the following:
To charles hakington,
You are to send me die two hundred francs you still
owe me for that revolver ... I should be ashamed to owe
money to a woman if I were you, and you are to write a
letter which I shall forward to Miss S. Green, thanking her
for having saved your swashbuckler's life. I can assure you
that you were very near death when you went to Cannes last
year. Also, when you next sign an order for the arrest and
deportation of a woman, see that you enquire into her case
with more justice than you did for me, and stop allowing liars
and bullies like Colonel	to lead you by the nose.    (I
refer you to one of my books My Adventures in Bolshevik
Russia for my more explicit comments on you and him.)
A nice judge of men you are really, to have relied as you did
when you were in Constantinople on your ruffians of the
Military Police.
odette keun.
The story in the book is interesting. Apparently she heard
that I was coming to Cannes for a holiday. She decided to
shoot first me and then herself. She bought this revolver,
made her will and then confided her resolve in a letter to her
friend Miss Green. Next day Miss Green (if that is her real
name) arrived by train to reason with her. She appears to
have reasoned without success and to have said at last: "Well,
my child, if you've made up your mind that it is your duty
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